Topic: Baltimore Bridge collapses after being hit by cargo ship

[Dench57]

I'd be more concerned with the shocking anti-collision defences on bridges over these major shipping lanes. Looks like the defences on the Baltimore bridge were built in 1977 and not even close to fit for purpose when considering modern container ships.

[Jiminy Cricket]

Or / and dropping anchor.

It does not work like that. Anchors are ineffective breaks. It takes time.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/2YvwXJGsbEg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/2YvwXJGsbEg</a>

[coolbyrne]

It does not work like that. Anchors are ineffective breaks. It takes time.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/2YvwXJGsbEg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/2YvwXJGsbEg</a>

It's like expecting a train to come to a complete immediate stop when they see a car across the tracks. It takes as much power and time to stop these machines as it does to get them going.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

Jesus.

Also, that ship ownership structure and operations catches the eye doesn't it.

[Elmo!]

Jesus.

Also, that ship ownership structure and operations catches the eye doesn't it.

The more concerning thing is that is pretty much bog standard for the industry. I'm just amazed it was registered in Singapore, it's usually Panama, Vanuatu or Liberia.

[Red-Soldier]

The more concerning thing is that is pretty much bog standard for the industry. I'm just amazed it was registered in Singapore, it's usually Panama, Vanuatu or Liberia.

Yep.  The industry is dodgy as hell.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

It's like expecting a train to come to a complete immediate stop when they see a car across the tracks. It takes as much power and time to stop these machines as it does to get them going.

My mam asked why they didn't just turn or stop 

[redbyrdz]

I'd be more concerned with the shocking anti-collision defences on bridges over these major shipping lanes. Looks like the defences on the Baltimore bridge were built in 1977 and not even close to fit for purpose when considering modern container ships.

This, I get that there can be especially bad collisions, but it didn't seem like there was much to prevent the direct strike on the bridge pillar.

Also, I sort of think there would be a way to build a bridge that would only result in a partial collapse near the supporting pillar. But the whole bridge went down pretty much instantely, even the sections still fully supported by the other pillars.

[Red Beret]

The bridge was built between 1972 and 1977. I know big container ships are hardly a new idea, but maybe a collision with a ship this size just wasn't anticipated?

EDIT: I see the ship was fairly modest in size compared to some of the really big ships out there. About the size of a decent sized cruise ship. So it's really just down to inertia and dead weight of the vessel. That said, the concrete pylons supporting the central span of the bridge don't look particularly robust.

This guy is pretty good when it comes to all things ships. I'm still watching the vid, but I'll share it here.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/R4AuGZIhJ_c&amp;ab_channel=OceanlinerDesigns" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/R4AuGZIhJ_c&amp;ab_channel=OceanlinerDesigns</a>

[John C]

Six people confirmed to have died, that's really sad.
RIP.

[Scottymuser]

I was reading on the guardian about the Far Rights "conspiracy theory" (it being a Black Swan Event) and clicked through to the Andrew Tate tweet about it.  Dear.  God.  How are some of these people still able to vote.  Going on about it being a deliberate act of terror by Israel/Rissia (they aren't sure which), etc etc.

After about 2 mins of reading the responses, I had lost the will to live - surprised it took that long

[WhereAngelsPlay]

I was reading on the guardian about the Far Rights "conspiracy theory" (it being a Black Swan Event) and clicked through to the Andrew Tate tweet about it.  Dear.  God.  How are some of these people still able to vote.  Going on about it being a deliberate act of terror by Israel/Rissia (they aren't sure which), etc etc.

After about 2 mins of reading the responses, I had lost the will to live - surprised it took that long

He thanks you for your ad revenue.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Six people confirmed to have died, that's really sad.
RIP.

All the workers, the poor bastards, cannot imagine the fear.

[rob1966]

Six people confirmed to have died, that's really sad.
RIP.

Horrible news.

[Scottymuser]

He thanks you for your ad revenue.

I mean, I've obviously got adblock on, and twatter is one of the sites with the more stringent blocking

[meady1981]

Am I right in thinking one guy plummeted into the water - possibly in his car, was rescued and left the hospital the same day? And the guy can’t swim?? I can’t figure out what happened to him properly.

[TepidT2O]

This is an incredible thread

https://x.com/cfishman/status/1773733488295882896?s=46

Basically the pilot of the ship alerted the authorities to close the bridge with 30 seconds of power failure.

No pissing about, 30 seconds.  Incredible. How many lives did that save??

[Wabaloolah]

This, I get that there can be especially bad collisions, but it didn't seem like there was much to prevent the direct strike on the bridge pillar.

Also, I sort of think there would be a way to build a bridge that would only result in a partial collapse near the supporting pillar. But the whole bridge went down pretty much instantely, even the sections still fully supported by the other pillars.

This, I find it incredulous that a whole bridge could collapse in that way.

[SamLad]

This, I find it incredulous that a whole bridge could collapse in that way.

incredible not incredulous.

my guess is there are hundreds of thousands - maybe more - bridges that would be affected the same way, all over the world.

retrofitting to add "bumpers" or whatever they're called would be hugely expensive in many cases - and given the infrequency of these collisions, would likely never get the go-ahead anyway.

[Jiminy Cricket]

This, I find it incredulous that a whole bridge could collapse in that way.

incredible not incredulous.

my guess is there are hundreds of thousands - maybe more - bridges that would be affected the same way, all over the world.

retrofitting to add "bumpers" or whatever they're called would be hugely expensive in many cases - and given the infrequency of these collisions, would likely never get the go-ahead anyway.

I looked up the weight of the MV Dali: over 250,000 tonnes when fully laden. It would take enormous buffers (channels?) to reliably prevent a ship that size taking out the bridge. Would the creation of such barriers be as big a task as building the bridge itself? I suspect that it would be. The reality is, for such rare occurrences, it is not worth the cost. And this type of cost analysis is always a factor in just about every human endeavour. It might be uncomfortable to think about it, but we accept much greater risks than this all the time and there are few (serious) calls to make them much safer (at much greater expense): flying, driving, etc., possibly making them too expensive to create/use at all.

[Red-Soldier]

This, I find it incredulous that a whole bridge could collapse in that way.

It was built in the 70s, I think.  Ships were not as large and heavy, back then.

A bit like cars, too.

[Jiminy Cricket]

I neglected to include this link in my previous post:

https://www.businessinsider.com/francis-scott-key-bridge-no-chance-against-large-impact-experts-2024-3

[Jiminy Cricket]

This is an incredible thread

https://x.com/cfishman/status/1773733488295882896?s=46

Basically the pilot of the ship alerted the authorities to close the bridge with 30 seconds of power failure.

No pissing about, 30 seconds.  Incredible. How many lives did that save??

Not being a member of Twitter, I could view only the first post. This Nitter link might work (hit and miss - Nitter is now largely a dead project):

https://nitter.privacydev.net/cfishman/status/1773733488295882896#m